Marula, the fruit of their labour

IT’S a Friday afternoon at the Distell factory in Phalaborwa, and 33-year-old Rachel Rapatja is waiting patiently to be assisted.

Rapatja and other women wait for the factory to open, so they can sell their bags full of marula fruit, which they are paid R13 per 25kg for and R30 per 50kg.

Rapatja says she makes an average of R500 a month from selling the marula fruit.

“I know that the money we make is little, but I know that every season I have a job to rely on,” she says.

Joyce Nyathi, who also sells marula to the factory says she uses the money she makes from selling the marula fruit to support her six children.

“Things are difficult when you’re a single parent, you have to play both the mother and father to make ends meet,” she says.

During the recent launch of the annual Marula Festival, the MEC for economic development, environment and tourism (Ledet), Seaparo Sekoati said the existence of marula fruit was a huge boost to the local community, as they created opportunities for people.

According to Sekoati, about R40 million was generated during the Marula Festival.

“In a small town like Phalaborwa, that amount of money makes a huge difference to ordinary people running small businesses,” he said.

The MEC added that this year’s entrance fee to the festival would be reduced by or more than 50% in order to attract more people to the event.

“It does not make sense to charge R5 000 entrance fee to an average hawker who sells chisa nyama because that means they won’t make a profit out of the festival.

“We will look into introducing reasonable prices, especially for the hawkers to ensure they benefit from the festival,” he said.

Among those who will benefit from the event are marula brewers.

This year, Ledet is said to have bought 20 000 litres of traditionally brewed marula beer from local women around Phalaborwa to be consumed at the festival.

The Marual Festival starts on February 22 and ends on March 1.